CU-Boulder to buy Wilderness Place property for animal research

Building would house campus' life sciences programs

AURORA — Some animals used in research on the University of Colorado's Boulder campus may soon be getting a new home.

The Board of Regents on Wednesday approved a plan to purchase and renovate property at 2860 Wilderness Place to relocate some life sciences programs on the Boulder campus.

The deal is expected to cost $17.9 million, which includes $7.5 million to purchase the property and $10.4 million for renovations.

In November, planning officials described the need for better facilities for campus life sciences programs, many of which conduct animal research and operate in aging buildings that are in poor condition.

Officials proposed constructing a new 1-million-square-foot life sciences complex on CU's East Campus with a price tag between $300 million and $500 million.

The 60,000-square-foot building located on 2.78 acres of land on Wilderness Place fulfills those needs at a much lower cost, said Kelly Fox, Boulder's chief financial officer.

"It addresses the immediate needs that we have, and economically just made a lot of sense," Fox said.

The Office of Animal Research, psychology and neuroscience, integrative physiology and the Institute of Behavioral Genetics are some programs that could occupy the new building.

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Funding for the Wilderness property will come from an internal loan from the campus, to be repaid from campus sources including federal indirect cost recovery funds and rental revenue from leases within the building.

The property is three miles from the main campus and has 160 parking spots. Construction could begin in February, with programs moving into the new space as early as next summer.

Animal care

Part of the building recently was accredited by the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care. That group is a private, nonprofit organization that has accredited 900 institutions, including all other Pac-12 schools except CU-Boulder.

Officials have said that the Boulder campus is fully compliant with Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare requirements, an office under the National Institutes of Health. Full accreditation from the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care, though, would make the campus more competitive for research funding and would align it with peer institutions.

Colorado State and CU-Denver are accredited by the association.

In October 2012, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals filed a formal complaint with CU's animal experimentation oversight committee and launched an online petition asking CU to stop abusing animals in labs. The university said the organization's claims were exaggerated.

Animals used in CU research include rats, mice and fish, said Joe Rosse, associate vice chancellor of research integrity and compliance. All research involving animals is approved by the university's Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee to make sure it's conducted ethically and responsibly.

Consolidating programs

Rosse said the new facility will allow CU to consolidate several animal research programs into one building.

He said many campuses, including the CU-Denver campus, have one facility for all animal research. The purchase of the Wilderness property is a step in that direction for Boulder, he said.

"It's less efficient to have lots of small facilities than to have a smaller number of large facilities," he said.

Many of CU's current facilities, which weren't built or outfitted for animal research, require extensive upkeep and renovation to meet national, state and local standards, Rosse said.

On the other hand, modern facilities can be built "from the ground up" with animal care and research needs in mind, he said.

For example, the walls and floors where animals are housed need to be washed frequently, so a more durable paint is applied. The ventilation and heating and air conditioning systems are state-of-the-art, he said, to allow researchers to control temperature and humidity precisely.

"It provides an excellent opportunity for us to move some of the animal facilities from buildings that are older and in need of repair," he said.

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